Howard Moody (Compositor) 

Howard Moody has recently finished The Brussels Requiem, to be staged this autumn by its commissioner (Brussels Opera) at La Monnaie. Earlier this year he was nominated for a British Composer Award for his piece for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Moving Music. At present he is writing a second piece for the London Symphony Orchestra. Next year he will be writing new works for The Sarum Orchestra "La Folía" and the Salisbury International Arts Festival. Other commissions have included Southern Cathedrals’ Festival, English National Opera, Childrens Music Workshop, Bangladesh Festival, Station House Opera, Jack De Johnette, The National Forest Project and the Anvil. He has written Requiem for the Earth with the flamenco guitarist Paco Peña, and Songs of the Forest, a large scale oratorio for children´s chorus, orchestra and solos that opened the 2005 Lichfield Festival.

He also has a versatile career as a conductor and keyboard player. He is artistic director of Sarum Orchestra "La Folía" and has also conducted a number of orchestras including the Hallé, Bournemouth Orchestras, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber and Orchestra delle Toscana. In addition he has worked in the West End as a musical director and on the music staff of ENO and Glyndebourne. He has recorded for BBC radio and television, Netherlands Radio, Chandos and ECM. A special interest in creative projects which aim to develop young people´s imaginative ideas into dramatic, instrumental and vocal works involves him as a composer and animateur for Theatre Royal Norwich and the Chichester Festival Theatre.

As a keyboard player he plays harpsichord, organ, fortepiano, modern piano and synthesizers, performing in numerous international festivals. As a pianist he has given many recitals with violinist Ken Aiso and tenor Nigel Robson, soprano Lynne Dawson and cellist David Watkin (with whom he has recorded the Beethoven Cello Sonatas). He is also keyboard player for English Baroque Soloists (working closely with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, during the 2000 Bach Pilgrimage as keyboard continuo player and assistant conductor). He has also played with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Orchestra of St John’s as well as in ensembles with members of Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and London Symphony Orchestra.

Other collaborations have included working with musicians and artists as diverse as Marianne Faithfull and Marc Almond (including orchestrating and arranging their songs), Abdullah Ibrahim, the poet Ian McMillan (with whom he has written a musical), David Jackson, Barry Guy, the opera director David Freeman, singer Marie Angel and the jazz trio Terza Rima. He has worked extensively with John Surman with whom he has toured many international jazz festivals as both conductor and improviser, giving many performances of the award-winning album Proverbs and Songs (which received a Mercury award). He has given the premiere of Surman´s concerto for saxophone and piano Ultimate Voyage as conductor and pianist and has transcribed and orchestrated the album Road to St Ives. They have released a duo album for ECM of improvised music for organ and saxophone, Rain on the Window.

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